George Lindsey (born December 17, 1935) is an American character
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, best known for his role as "Goober Pyle" on
The Andy Griffith ShowThe Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in a fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
.
George Lindsey was born in Jasper, Alabama, at People's Hospital where fellow UNA alum D.E. Heidorn was also born, near
BirminghamBirmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800 The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates,...
, and raised in the small town of
Jasper, AlabamaJasper is a city in Walker County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 14,659. As of July 1, 2006 the population had increased to 15,117. The city is the county seat of Walker County, and once ranked among the world's leading producers of coal.-Geography:Jasper is located...
. Lindsey graduated from
Kemper Military SchoolKemper Military School was a private military academy located in Boonville, Missouri. Kemper filed for bankruptcy and closed in 2002. The school's motto was "Nunquam Non Paratus" .-Early years under Frederick T. Kemper:...
and Florence State College (now the University of North Alabama) with a Bachelor of
BioscienceBioScience is the flagship publication of the American Institute of Biological Sciences . It is a peer-reviewed, heavily cited, monthly science journal with content written and edited for accessibility to researchers, educators, and students alike...
.
George Lindsey (born December 17, 1935) is an American character
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, best known for his role as "Goober Pyle" on
The Andy Griffith ShowThe Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in a fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
.
Early life and career
George Lindsey was born in Jasper, Alabama, at People's Hospital where fellow UNA alum D.E. Heidorn was also born, near
BirminghamBirmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800 The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates,...
, and raised in the small town of
Jasper, AlabamaJasper is a city in Walker County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 14,659. As of July 1, 2006 the population had increased to 15,117. The city is the county seat of Walker County, and once ranked among the world's leading producers of coal.-Geography:Jasper is located...
. Lindsey graduated from
Kemper Military SchoolKemper Military School was a private military academy located in Boonville, Missouri. Kemper filed for bankruptcy and closed in 2002. The school's motto was "Nunquam Non Paratus" .-Early years under Frederick T. Kemper:...
and Florence State College (now the University of North Alabama) with a Bachelor of
BioscienceBioScience is the flagship publication of the American Institute of Biological Sciences . It is a peer-reviewed, heavily cited, monthly science journal with content written and edited for accessibility to researchers, educators, and students alike...
. Before moving to
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
, he was a public high school teacher at
Hazel Green High SchoolHazel Green High School is located in Hazel Green in north Madison County, Alabama, USA. It is operated by the Madison County Board of Education. HGHS currently has over 1,200 enrolled students in grades 9-12, making it a 6A school.-Building:...
in
Madison County, AlabamaMadison County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is a major part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The county is named in honor of James Madison, fourth President of the United States of America, and the first to visit the state of Alabama. According to the Census'...
. After serving in the
Air ForceAn air force, also known in some countries as an air army or historically an army air corps, is in the broadest sense, the national military that primarily conducts aerial warfare...
, he tried to break into show business in New York City.
The Andy Griffith Show, as "Goober Pyle" (1964)
In 1964, he got his big break as the slow-witted but kindly hick "Goober Beasley" on the now legendary
The Andy Griffith ShowThe Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in a fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
. His character was eventually renamed "
Goober PyleGoober was the fictional auto mechanic for the town of Mayberry in the 1960s American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show and its later spin-off series Mayberry RFD. He was played by George Lindsey. Lindsey initially read for the part of Gomer Pyle, which went to singer Jim Nabors...
" to retain the same name as his cousin
Gomer PyleGomer Pyle was the simple-minded gas station attendant and later auto mechanic in the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, played for 23 episodes by Jim Nabors in 1962-1964...
, another slow-witted yokel played by
Jim NaborsJames Thurston "Jim" Nabors is an American actor and singer. Born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, Nabors moved to Southern California due to his asthma. While working at a Santa Monica nightclub, The Horn, he was discovered by Andy Griffith and consequently joined The Andy Griffith Show, playing...
. Goober's antics frequently included his exaggerated "Goober Dance" and his comically bad Cary Grant impression ("Judy, Judy, Judy").
As Lindsey started his portrayal as Goober, he also had a minor role in the
Walter BrennanWalter Brennan was an American actor. Highly regarded as a film character actor, Brennan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor three times...
series
The TycoonThe Tycoon is a 32-episode American situation comedy television series broadcast by ABC. It starred Walter Brennan as the fictitious businessman Walter Andrews...
on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
. Lindsey also had a role in Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea entitled
Submarine Sunk Here.
Mayberry R.F.D., other acting work
After Griffith left his television show,
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
retooled it as
Mayberry R.F.D.Mayberry R.F.D. is a spin-off, or, perhaps more accurately, a direct continuation of The Andy Griffith Show under a new title, for the same sponsor, General Foods...
and Lindsey played the same character, until
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
cancelled
R.F.D. in 1971. Later in the 1970s, Lindsey guest starred on "
M*A*S*HM*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film MASH . The series is a medical drama/black comedy that was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS...
" as Roy Dupree, a Southern surgeon working at the 8063rd Unit who switched places at the 4077th with
Hawkeye PierceCaptain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce is a fictional character and lead protagonist in the M*A*S*H novels, film, and television series...
.
In 1963 Lindsey portrayed Charlie, one of a pair of highwaymen in the
GunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
episode "Blind Man's Bluff," and an escaped convict, "The Dove," in an episode of
The RiflemanThe Rifleman is an American Western television program that ran on ABC, from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963, a production of Four Star Television.-History:...
.
DisneyWalt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company:Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner, was established as a designation in 1983, prior to which Disney films since 1954 were released under the name of the parent company, then named Walt Disney...
used his talents in a few projects, both as comedy support in features and voiceovers for a few of their
animatedAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
characters. Three Disney animated features that presented the voice of Lindsey were
The AristocatsThe Aristocats is an animated feature produced and released by Walt Disney Productions in 1970. The twentieth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film is based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe, and revolves around a family of aristocratic cats, and how an alley...
(1970),
Robin HoodRobin Hood is an animated feature produced by the Walt Disney Studios, first released in the United States on November 8, 1973. The 21st animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film is based on the legend of Robin Hood, but uses anthropomorphic animals instead of people.-...
(1973) and
The RescuersThe Rescuers is a 1977 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Productions and first released on June 22, 1977. The twenty-third film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film is about the Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization, headquartered in New York and shadowing...
(1977).
As "Goober" on Hee Haw (1972-1992)
Lindsey put on his "Goober" act for the third and last time on the
syndicatedIn broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows to multiple individual stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in countries where television is scheduled by networks with local affiliates, particularly in the United States...
country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
variety show
Hee HawHee Haw was a television variety show, initially co-hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark and featuring country music and humor with fictional, rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop. It was taped at WLAC-TV and Opryland USA in Nashville...
. He appeared on that show from 1972 to 1992.
Following
Hee Haw, George "Goober" Lindsey had a short cameo in the Rose Bowl episode of
NewsRadioNewsRadio is an American television sitcom. The show was created by executive producer Paul Simms, and was taped in front of a studio audience at CBS Studio Center. Some episodes were taped at Sunset Gower Studios...
, he was called as a witness in a civil case and asked only one question: "Mr. Lindsey, is this your skull?" He examined the skull and said, "no." At that point he was dismissed. He is also seen at the end of the episode buying artifacts from Mr. James that were supposedly actual set pieces in popular films, including his own skull.
Honors and citations
Lindsey has raised over $1,000,000 (USD) for Alabama Special Olympics through 17 years of the George Lindsey Celebrity Weekend and Golf Tournament in Montgomery, Alabama and another $50,000 for the Alabama Association of Retarded Citizens. and participated as Head Coach-Winter Games in Minneapolis, MN Special Olympics National Competition.
He established and perpetuated the George Lindsey Academic Scholarships at University of North Alabama.
Lindsey was the 1995 recipient of the Governor's Achievement Award - Alabama Music Hall of Fame. The State of
AlabamaAlabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its...
named the "George Lindsey Highway" in Birmingham after the actor. In 1998, he established the
George Lindsey/UNA Film FestivalThe George Lindsey/UNA Film Festival was established in 1998 by George Lindsey, most well known as the actor that played "Goober Pyle" on The Andy Griffith Show...
that takes place at the
University of North AlabamaThe University of North Alabama is a coeducational university located in Florence, Alabama, and the state's oldest four-year public university....
annually in the spring.
He was the 1997 recipient of the Minnie Pearl Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2007 recipient of the first ICON Award presented by the Nashville Associations of Talent Directors.
Goober Lindsey As Spock?
Actor
Leonard NimoyLeonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. He is famous for playing the character of Spock on the original Star Trek series, and he reprised the role in various movie and television sequels.-Early life:Nimoy was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to...
has claimed that Lindsey was
Star TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series.The original Star Trek was an American television series, created by Gene Roddenberry, which debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons, following the interstellar adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Federation...
creator
Gene RoddenberryEugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American screenwriter and producer. He created the American science-fiction series Star Trek, an accomplishment for which he was sometimes referred to as the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" due to the show's influence on popular culture. He was one of the first...
's first choice of actor to play
SpockSpock is a character in the fictional Star Trek media franchise. First portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star Trek...
. He said this during a series of interview clips on
TV LandTV Land is an American cable television network launched April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon....
coinciding with the premier of Star Trek on that network. His tone of voice and the general tone of the interview, however, indicate he may have been joking, such as when he suggested that Spock's original catchphrase was, "Take it easy."